30 Day Baseball Card Challenge

Thursday, May 9, 2013

Flea Market Finds #37: A Bucket of Junk(wax) & more Junk

One weekend.  Two flea markets.  Three decades of collectibles.

Before I tell you what I bought... let's review the difference between the two flea markets I walked around last weekend.

The De Anza Flea Market is held in the parking lot of a local community college on the first Saturday of each month.  It has a lot of vendors who sell antiques, handmade crafts, and other unique items you'd find at a street fair.  You'll also find a fair share of vendors who are locals conducting their spring cleaning.  In short... it's like a middle class flea market.


At the very end of the spectrum, there's the Capitol Flea Market.  This is where most of my Flea Market Finds occur.  It's open every Wednesday through Sunday and is located at the local drive-in theater.  The average vendor has tons of junk.  I'm not joking.  There's tons of stuff that I wouldn't take home if they were giving it away.  But every now and then... hidden among the garbage, you can find a hidden treasure.


Okay, now that you have the background info... let's check out what I picked up last weekend.



When:  Saturday, May 4th

Where:  De Anza Flea Market
What:  Sports CardsBobble
How Much?:  $63

Purchase #1:  1989 Pro Set Football (Series 1 & 2) Set  $6




Yes, I know this stuff was probably the most overproduced football set of all-time.  But it has a ton of cool rookie cards, including: Troy Aikman, Barry Sanders, Tim Brown, Thurman Thomas, Cris Carter, Derrick Thomas, Deion Sanders, and Michael Irvin.


Purchase #2:  A Bucket of Junk $15


It pays to peek.  This lady had this bin sitting under a box of Christmas ornaments.  As I walked by, I recognized a familiar sight.  It was a fraction of a 1990 Upper Deck High #'s set that was barely visible to the untrained eye.  I took a step back and moved the box of ornaments, unveiling a bucket of Junk Wax Era cardboard.


Here's a list of the contents:  1989 Topps Traded set, 1992-93 Topps Basketball factory set, 1989 Fleer Update set, 1990 Upper Deck High #'s set, 1994 Fleer Football (opened) wax box, 1993 Topps Black Gold baseball set, small stack of individual cards (including a Tony La Russa autograph), and a 2001 Barry Bonds All-Star bobble head.


I was mainly interested in the Bonds bobble head and the La Russa autograph, but I asked her about the whole bucket.  She wanted $15, which was reasonable... so a deal was made.


Purchase #3:  2001 Bowman Draft Factory Baseball Set and 2005 Score Football Wax Box $40 


I stumbled across a guy who was dumping his collection of wax boxes.  He had hundreds of wax boxes ranging from the late 90's to the mid 2000's.  He definitely knew his values, so there wasn't any chance to find any hidden treasures.  His prices were based on completed eBay sales minus 20%.

I ended up grabbing the Bowman Draft set (for the Ichiro rookie) and the box of Score in hopes of pulling an Aaron Rodgers rookie.  The Bowman set sells for around $15, while the Score box sells for around $45.  He wanted $45 for the pair and I countered with $40.  He accepted and we both walked away satisfied.


Btw... I ended up pulling one A-Rod and a numbered Alex Smith rookie.  Did I pay for the box?  Nope... but it was fun to rip and that's part of what I payed for.


Purchase #4:  1984 Topps John Elway Rookie $1




Why would somebody sell an Elway rookie card for a buck?  Because it's got this nice dimple embedded on the right side of the card and it's centering is terrible.  But that just makes it the latest addition to my Damaged Card PC.  



Purchase #5:  1993 McDonald's GameDay Sets $1



Yup... 50¢ for each set.  They're not worth much, but if you've ever seen these sets, I'm sure you can appreciate they're coolness.


The next day, I woke up and went to the other flea market, which looked deserted... because it was Cinco de Mayo.

When:  Sunday, May 5th
Where:  Capitol Flea Market
What:  More ComicsBall
How Much?:  $6

Purchase #1:  Comic Books $5

Spectacular Spider-Man #200, #225, and #229

The Uncanny X-Men #395, Iron Man #300, and Batman: The Killing Joke

It's simple.  I can't walk away from comic books with 90's gimmick covers.



Purchase #2:  1995 Avon Collection Jackie Robinson Ball $1   



There weren't a lot of vendors this time with sports memorabilia, but one guy had fifty to sixty of these baseballs.  Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb, Lou Gehrig, Willie Mays, Cal Ripken Jr., Ken Griffey Jr., Ted Williams... and Jackie Robinson.  Most of them were Cobbs and Gehrigs, but he had at least five of each player... except Robinson.  He only had one of those and after I left his table... he was Jackie-less.

The overall picture isn't a pretty one, because the purchase of the 2005 Score box ended up putting a big dent in my wallet.  But... you win some and lose some when you bust wax.  At least I ended up pulling the main card I wanted.

Happy Thursday and sayonara!

17 comments:

Spiegel83 said...

Some of your purchases is like looking at my childhood collecting habits. Great finds and The Killing Joke is a fantastic story with great artwork.

Dion's IP Autos only said...

It would have been nice if the #'d was the Rodgers instead of the Smith but nice cards none the less!

Dan said...

who was your auto in the 2001 draft set?

Zayden said...

That bucket of junk looks pretty awesome to me!!!

Unknown said...

Wow those are some great finds. Nicely done

Anonymous said...

I'm not normally a huge Batman/Joker fan, but The Killing Joke creeped the holy hell out of me (but in a good way).

Commishbob said...

I collected the Pro Set football sets. The were cheap, plentiful and available by the pack at my local grocery store. Plus they had nice pics and designs. What's not to like? I traded cards with my students and were had a lot of fun. I still have each of those sets in nice Pro Set binders on my shelves.

Had some of those those McDonalds Game Day cards as well.

Greg Zakwin said...

nice purchases! and congrats on pulling the Rodgers!

Swing And A Pop-up said...

Great finds! I have some of those McDonalds GameDay cards too.

cynicalbuddha said...

Love those McDonald's Game Day cards. I can remember going to McDonald's to pick up my Packers set all those years ago, and I still have them. The team sets looks so great together. And do you know what printing that Batman: The Killing Joke is? If it's a first printing, which did feature the green title, but so did the 11th printing, it's worth about $25 bucks so nice score!

Fuji said...

I picked it up, because I remember reading another blog's write up on this comic. One of these days, I'll open it up and read it.

Fuji said...

I know. After busting this box, I realized there aren't many upsides to busting these types of boxes. Singles are pretty affordable and the odds of you pulling an autograph is very, very low. But at least I can now say that I pulled a Rodgers rookie card out of a pack.

Fuji said...

Haven't gotten around to opening it. Was debating on keeping it sealed, since there aren't any autographs I'd really want to pull.

Fuji said...

More incentive for me to read it ;-)

Fuji said...

Hmmm... I'll have to check. I'll get back to you this weekend.

Fuji said...

Just looked... it's a first printing. Damn... he had a bunch. I'll have to go back this weekend and see if he has any left.

Jafronius said...

Nice find with the bucket of junk wax